


under my skin

by pinklesbian



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (implied) - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gay Keith (Voltron), Keith & Shiro are brothers, Lack of Communication, M/M, Soulmates, Trans Lance (Voltron), Trans Pidge | Katie Holt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-09 22:19:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12898014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinklesbian/pseuds/pinklesbian
Summary: soulmate au feat. trans lance and socially awkward keith





	under my skin

**Author's Note:**

> i'm not a trans guy so lmk if any of this needs fixing! lance is referred to with she/her pronouns at the beginning because he's not out yet. 
> 
> takes place mostly in s1 but the timeline is all over the place so sorry if it's confusing umm i wrote it when i was very tired

Keith’s pretty sure he’s human, just like everyone else, so of course he keeps an eye out for his soulmate. The name on his wrist is supposed to be the person he’ll be the closest to in his life, right? So far his list of people he’s close to only includes his older, adoptive brother, so another person couldn’t hurt. 

The first time he thinks he might be close to meeting his soulmate is his first day of class at the Galaxy Garrison. He’s seventeen years old and the only one in his year assigned to train as a fighter pilot. Shiro was proud of him, which made starting at a new school, with no friends, slightly less unbearable. 

As soon as the bell signaling the start of class ceases ringing, a tall woman with her hair in a neat bun begins calling roll. She pronounces _Kogane_ slightly wrong—no doubt she would have gotten it right if he had enrolled under _Shirogane._ Everyone knows who Shiro is, but that’s part of why Keith didn’t want to use that name. He doesn’t want to be stuck in Shiro’s shadow. 

Keith zones out as soon as she moves onto the next name. There are a few more K names, then a couple of L’s, and then his attention is immediately brought back as she reads the first M name: _McClain, Belle._

He shifts slightly to the right to see a girl with tan skin and long, wavy hair raise her hand and say “Present!” with a little too much enthusiasm. Then she suddenly makes eye contact with him, sort of intensely, and he feels something he can’t quite put a name to before he looks away. 

McClain. He should ask her if she has a brother, he thinks, but the fact of the matter is that he’s not great at interacting with people his age, and asking people personal details about their families is probably not a great way to start a conversation, and—he immediately leaves to find Shiro as soon as class is over, even though he feels the girl staring at him as he goes.

Unidentifiable glances and glimpses very quickly morph into sneers and glares as Keith seems to get onto her bad side by doing absolutely nothing. He cannot fathom why this person is so mad at him—he’s pretty sure he’s not acting like an asshole, because nobody else in class is glaring daggers at him.

Keith does his best to ignore her. For seven months. 

Then, she shows up to class with her hair chopped short and she glares at _everyone_ , not just Keith. The only person spared from her anger is the tall, broad boy she sits next to, whose name Keith either never learned or simply forgot. 

Two weeks after her new haircut, Keith walks into the classroom to find her sticking a piece of masking tape over where her first name is stitched into her uniform. On it is scribbled: LANCE. 

McClain, Lance…? 

Oh. Oh! Holy shit. 

Keith stares, wide-eyed, at _Lance,_ who  looks up and instantly scowls when he sees Keith. “Is there a problem here? Can’t a guy go about his business in peace? Jesus, dude, piss off.” And he brushes past Keith roughly to go sit down next to his friend. Keith hears, “If they don’t give me a new uniform soon I’m going to light this one on fire and just come to class topless,” and the other boy chuckles softly. 

Keith stands there, shocked, for a few moments before he realizes he should sit down. Then he realizes Lance is pissed at him, but he can’t just walk over and say “Hey, I just realized you’re my soulmate, sorry,” because that’s not who Keith _is._ He’s not the type of person who initiates difficult conversations, especially not with people who hate him.

He panics internally and then suddenly class is over as soon as it began. He needs to find Shiro, talk to Shiro—shit, wait. Shiro isn’t _here,_ Shiro is flying to _Pluto_ right now, fuck. He’s supposed to get there soon… today, maybe? Still, Keith’s never needed his big brother more than he does right now, and he’s on the other side of the solar system. Cool. He swallows down his dread and anxiety and goes to the gym on campus instead of thinking about his feelings.

Feelings come back into play the next morning. He’s walking to class, trying to work out what he should say to Lance, _if_ he should say anything, when a faculty member stops him. It’s Commander Iverson—he asks Keith to please step into his office, where a number of other Garrison officers are gathered. Keith feels his stomach twist into knots immediately, and his sympathetic nervous system is telling him run, run, run. However… nothing happens. At least not for a while. Everyone is sitting in relative, uncomfortable silence. Keith really doesn’t know why he’s been brought in here. The bell to start class rings, and everyone just stays where they are, though some check their watches. 

Finally, another faculty member walks in, followed by a woman and her daughter, who’s maybe 13 or 14 years old. At that point where you’re uncomfortable in your own skin. “Mrs. Holt, please, have a seat,” says one of the officers Keith isn’t familiar with. The Holts sit down in the two empty chairs next to Keith, looking up at Iverson nervously. 

Then they all ruin Keith’s life. 

His brother is dead. He’s all alone again. He’ll never get to talk to Shiro again, never tell him he found his soulmate, never get to go to Japan like they talked about… He thinks he blacks out for a few moments. Suddenly he’s up and out of his chair, knocking it back with a loud scraping noise. He moves to leave, but there’s a hand on his arm, stopping him. It’s an officer, Iverson, maybe, and they’re saying “This information is highly classified—“ but Keith can’t bear to listen to anyone say another word to him. He twists out of their grasp and can’t stop himself from throwing a fist at the next person who tries to stop him. The Garrison is not prepared to deal with Keith’s grief and suffering, so he’s told to collect his things and leave by the end of the day. 

That’s fine. He doesn’t have that many things, anyway. (He makes up for it by stealing a hover bike.)

* * *

 

“Uh, the name’s _Lance_?” the boy says, incredulous. Keith knows this, obviously. It’s hard to forget a name when it’s permanently marked onto your wrist. Still, with all that’s happened, with all that’s happening, he can’t work up the energy to deal with the situation properly. 

So he pretends he forgot who Lance is. He sees Shiro give him a wide-eyed look, then shift his gaze to Lance and back. Keith telepathically pleads with him not to say anything. The message seems to get across, mostly. He’ll have to explain everything to Shiro later.

* * *

 

“Later” doesn’t come until Lance has been in the healing pod for 13 hours, and everyone else has gone to sleep after Allura’s insistence that he won’t be out until the next day, at least. 

Keith stays, of course. He has to. Just in case. 

He’s starting to drift off, himself, when he hears boots clacking against the floor outside the med bay. He scrambles so he’s standing on his feet again instead of sitting on the floor with his knees pulled to his chest. He briefly thinks he should try to look casual, but… he’s kind of just standing in the middle of the room. There’s not a lot to do, or look at, in the med bay. Besides, well, Lance.

In the pod, Lance looks relaxed. His face is calm, for once. The white suit he’s got on so the Altean technology can do its thing is tight in a way that Lance probably won’t be happy about when he gets out. He’ll probably take out his frustration on Keith for no reason, as he is wont to do. 

Unfortunately Keith has forgotten to look casual, so when Shiro walks in, he sees Keith staring longingly at the healing pod. He clears his throat to get Keith’s attention. 

“So…” Shiro starts, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe. “Do you want to explain?” 

There’s a long silence as Keith frowns and stares at his boots, gathering his thoughts. Shiro doesn’t poke or pry or push him to hurry up. Just watches him curiously. 

Shiro has known the name of Keith’s soulmate since the younger man was thirteen and his father died. Shiro’s parents, family friends, immediately took him into their home. They connected instantly—Shiro knew he was meant to be there for Keith. It was awful that Keith lost his parents, but this was how things were supposed to turn out. He cared so deeply for Keith, so quickly, that he was a little surprised they didn’t have each other’s names on their wrists.

Keith had originally been reluctant to share his mark with anyone. Shiro later surmised that he was probably getting teased because of it—because it was a boy’s name. This filled him with unbridled brotherly rage, and he hurried to assure Keith there was nothing wrong with that.

“Your soulmate doesn’t have to be your one true love, or anything like that. You don’t have to get married and have a family. He could just be your best friend. It being a boy doesn’t mean anything,” he told Keith, one hand on his shoulder. 

Keith glared at his shoes (in a similar fashion to how he’s doing it in the present) and huffed, annoyed. “Well, maybe I do want to marry him,” he mumbled, voice mostly conveying anger, but also a little insecurity. 

“That’s okay too!” Shiro said quickly, feeling like he’s doing a crappy job of being a big brother. “It’s okay if you want to marry him. Or if you don’t want to marry him, but you like other boys, you know?”

“I know,” Keith mumbled, though now his face was a bit red. There was an awkward silence where Shiro wasn’t sure if he should say something else, but then Keith spoke again: “Thank you, Takashi.” 

Shiro’s face broke out into a grin and he ruffled the younger boy’s hair, which might have ruined the tender moment, but he still felt warm and happy. 

After that, Keith usually didn’t hesitate to talk or vent or complain about his feelings to Shiro, which is part of why Shiro is so confused right now. He’s never been this out of the loop when it comes to Keith. He draws his attention back to the present, where his brother is bathed in the blue light shining off the healing pod. 

“It’s a long story,” Keith starts, drawing his gaze back up to look at Lance’s face. He fills Shiro in on basically every detail. He didn’t realize who Lance was at first, then when he did, he couldn’t muster up the confidence to talk to him, then Lance already hated him, and Keith’s life went to shit (Shiro feels sadness grip his heart for the umpteenth time as he thinks about how Keith had been left all alone on Earth).

“Besides,” he sighs, “Lance never gave me any indication that I was his soulmate. He probably… doesn’t even have my name.”

The idea that the universe would so cosmically fuck over his little brother made Shiro curl his hands into tighter fists. No way could Keith lose both of his parents, then his brother (temporarily), _and_ have an unreciprocated soulmate. Not unless he procured some serious bad karma in a past life.

* * *

 

After Lance is fully healed and back to training with the rest of the team, Shiro keeps giving him weird looks. It makes Lance feels extremely self conscious—as if he wasn’t already worried about how he fit in and was valued as a part of the group.

It’s one day, after a dinner where Shiro had stared at him contemplatively for the _entire_ duration of the meal, that Lance has had enough. 

“Hey, Shiro, look,” he says, touching a hand to Shiro’s upper arm as a way of asking him to hang back after everyone else has left the dining room. “You’ve been giving me looks for the past week like you’re trying to figure me out or something. I don’t know if it’s because you guys all found out I’m trans, but like, if you have something to say can you just say it?” His anxiety about speaking to their leader privately and about such a topic makes him avert his eyes and focus on a random spot on the wall instead. He wraps his arms around his torso protectively, waiting for a response.

Shiro stares at him in stunned silence for a few excruciating moments before he says, “All?”

“What?” Lance asks, looking up at the other man. His eyebrows are furrowed together in slight confusion. 

“Sorry, I just meant… we didn’t _all_ find out just now. Some of the team already knew.”

“Well, yeah, Hunk knew, obviously—"  
  
“And Keith.”

“I mean…” Lance says, pulling a face. “I guess he technically knew. But he didn’t remember having class with me, so he probably forgot.”

Shiro’s eyebrows raise now in something akin to amusement. “I’m sorry, Lance,” he says. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I’ve just been thinking lately—not about you, or, not about that. You know we all are fine with you, however you are. And if you ever need to talk, I’m here.” 

Lance’s eyes go wide. “Wow,” he says, “you’re like the brother I never had. Well, I mean, I have a brother, but I wish he was more like you.” 

Shiro smiles softly. “I was once gifted a mug that says ‘World’s Best Brother,’ actually.” 

That draws a laugh out of Lance, but then he tilts his head curiously. “You have siblings? I never heard about that back at the Garrison. I thought you were an only child.” 

The words come out of Shiro’s mouth before he can think it through: “Ah, Keith was adopted.” 

Lance’s eyes go even wider this time. “Uh, what? Oh my god? You— Keith— hah? Am I the only one who doesn’t know this?” 

Shiro pinches the bridge of his nose. “Okay, wait, hold on. I didn’t mean to say that, I don’t know if Keith wants anyone to know—“  


“Oh my god, I was just jealous of _Keith_! What!” Lance throws his hands up in the air in disbelief. As he does so, his sleeves slide down his arms slightly. Without thinking, Shiro reaches out and grabs his left wrist, bringing it close to his face to inspect it. Lance makes a squawking noise and jerks it away, but the damage is done. Shiro has seen.

 

_Keith Kogane._

 

The older man looks Lance in the eye, lips pursed. Lance feels panic coursing through his veins and he opens his mouth to speak at the same time Shiro does—

“Please don’t tell Keith—“  
  
“Why do you act like you hate him?”

 

“…it’s honestly been so long that I don’t really know how I’m supposed to act around him.”

“I think we should all stop pretending to feel certain ways,” Shiro says thoughtfully. “And I think you and Keith need to have a conversation about this.”

* * *

 

That obviously doesn’t happen. No way is Lance about to walk up to Keith and just say, “Hey, I know we’ve known each other for a couple of years basically but I just now decided to tell you that you’re my soulmate, and I know it’s not reciprocated! But okay, bye!”

Because obviously it’s not reciprocated. Keith would have said something, anything—on the first day of class at the Garrison, or after he got his name change finalized and his teachers started calling him Lance, or at the very least the day they found Shiro, right? 

But, God, what if it _was_ reciprocated, and Keith has “Belle” on his wrist? Lance would just fucking toss himself out of the airlock. One of the good things about being in space was that he didn’t have to go to family gatherings where his aunts and uncles would call him the wrong name, and ask him why he cut his beautiful long hair, and when he was going to get over this phase he was going through. 

It couldn’t be, though. Keith never spared him a second glance in school, and he barely spares him a second glance now.

* * *

 

Shiro notes with some annoyance that it seems like neither Keith nor Lance has taken his advice and spoken to the other. 

The whole team is gathered in one of the lounges, and somehow the topic of conversation has veered into the Lance, Hunk, and Pidge explaining soulmates to the Alteans, who have never heard of such a concept. 

“So you are destined to fall in love?” Allura asks, head tilted in confusion. 

“Not really,” Pidge says. She pushes her sleeve up and shows Allura the name: _Matthew Holt._ “My soulmate is my brother, see? It just means that he’s the person I’m going to have the closest relationship to in my life.”

“Wait,” Hunk interrupts. “What does your brother’s mark say? Pidge?” 

She snorts. “No, but that would be funny. It says Katie Holt.”

Lance perks up at that. “Oh, really? I’ve always wondered… you know, what my soulmate’s mark would say.” 

“Why would it not say your name?” Allura asks, only growing more confused as the conversation carries on further.

“Uh, how do I put this…” Lance starts. “Hm. When I was born, I wasn’t named Lance. I chose that name for myself.” 

“Is that something humans do? Choose their own names as young adults?” Coran pipes up, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Lance nudges Pidge with his elbow. “The cool ones, yeah.”

Shiro glances over at Keith, who has been silent. He’s got his right hand tightly gripped around his left wrist, and he’s frowning at nothing in particular. Shiro sighs softly. 

“Have you met your soulmate?” Pidge asks, and Shiro realizes she’s talking to him. “Does their mark say Shiro? Or Takashi?” 

“You’re asking if it says ‘Shiro Shirogane?’” Keith finally chimes in, incredulously. Shiro chuckles. 

“I have not met them, so I don’t know. I imagine it says Takashi. That is my name, after all.” 

“I wonder if mine says Shirogane, too,” Keith muses without thinking. Pidge, Hunk, Allura, and Coran stare at him in confusion; Shiro and Lance stare in shock. 

“…what?” Pidge says, finally. Keith suddenly realizes what he’s said and looks like he’s trying to come up with an excuse, but gives up. 

“Shiro’s parents adopted me when I was a kid. So, my last name is legally Shirogane.”

They all hear Allura whisper “Adopted?” to Coran, so Keith elaborates. “My mom left when I was a baby, so when my dad died, Shiro’s parents took care of me.”

Everyone is a little stunned by how easily Keith is sharing all of this personal information—he’s never even said anything about his parents out loud before, and they’ve been a team for months now. 

“Oh!” Pidge exclaims. “That’s where I saw you before. You were there when they told us the Kerberos mission had been a failure. You punched that officer in the face.” 

“You what?” Shiro says, brotherly instincts rising to the surface. “Keith, that’s not—“

“Okay, okay, a lot of things happened while Shiro was lost in space, alright, I’ll admit that. The whole point was that I was wondering if it says Shirogane, or—“

“It says Kogane,” Shiro says dismissively. “I should have known you would get into trouble if I—“ 

“What the fuck?” two people say simultaneously. Keith says it, grumbly and perplexed. Lance’s words are more high pitched and frantic. 

Keith chooses to ignore Lance’s squeaking for the moment. “What do you mean, it says Kogane? How would you know?” 

Shiro closes his eyes and turns his face toward the ceiling like he’s praying to whatever space god will listen. He takes a deep breath and opens his eyes again. He looks at Keith, and then at Lance. “You two are really driving me insane. We’re not talking about this anymore. New topic: what food does everybody miss from home? Because I have to say, I have a serious craving for McDonald’s chicken nuggets.” 

Pidge starts screeching about peanut butter and Coran waxes poetic about blorzemberry tarts, and Shiro can see Keith and Lance still shifting nervously in their seats but he ignores them.

* * *

 

“Lance!” a voice calls out behind him, and the Cuban teen lets out a groan. He runs his hands over his face in exasperation, because he really, _really_ doesn’t want to talk to anybody right now, especially not Keith. 

Still, he stops walking and lets the other boy catch up to him. He turns to face him and raises an eyebrow expectantly, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. 

Now that Keith is face to face with Lance, he’s not sure what to say. “Um,” he starts. “I might be wrong, but Shiro was acting like… there’s something… you could… tell… me?” he says, painfully unsure of himself. One hand is rubbing the back of his neck and the other is gripping the edge of his sleeve. It seems like he’s trying to maintain eye contact, but he keeps looking away.

Lance wonders what gives him the right to be so nervous. Shouldn’t _Lance_ be the nervous one? Keith literally just walked up to him and expects him to spill his guts, and he can’t _refuse_ because yeah, Shiro _did_ make it super obvious that Lance has a secret and that it involves Keith. 

“Like what?” Lance says, feigning ignorance, because he’s petty and annoyed and watching Keith shift nervously from foot to foot is kind of satisfying. 

He shifts back and forth a few more times before he blinks, seemingly coming to a realization. Then the color drains from his face and he ceases eye contact all together. “Maybe I’m the one who has something to say…” he mumbles, scrunching his eyebrows together. 

Lance really has no idea what Keith is trying to get at, so he doesn’t say anything. Keith’s hand comes down from his neck to his wrist; his thumb rubs the spots where his mark should be. Lance stares at him blankly. 

“I know you don’t care, but Shiro thinks it’ll be best for everyone if I tell you, so…”

_ So…? Just get to the point already, damn.  _

“You’re my, uh…”

Lance cocks his head at the unfinished sentence, searching Keith’s face for an indication of what he might be talking about. Then his gaze flickers down to Keith’s hands, how he’s holding his wrist, and it suddenly clicks—

“Holy fuck, what?” he spits out, certain he’s perhaps eaten some alien plant he wasn’t meant to and is now hallucinating. 

Keith flinches at the exclamation. He wraps his arms around himself. “I get that you don’t like me and you probably don’t want to hear this, and it’s fine, it’s whatever. It’s just that I think Shiro was really going to murder me if I didn’t tell you soon, so, that’s, uh, I… did.” And then he turns to walk away, like this conversation was anywhere close to being over. 

Lance reaches out and grabs onto his arm to keep him from running away. “Wait, let me see it.” 

“What?”

“Let me see the name, stupid.” 

Keith frowns, but offers his arm to Lance hesitantly. The younger boy pushes the red sleeve up just far enough to see the words inked onto Keith’s skin:

 

_Lance McClain._

 

“Oh,” he breathes. “Cool.”

“Cool?”

“I mean, I was worried it would say… something else.”

“I know. You said that earlier.” 

“You could have let me know,” Lance says, attempting a lighthearted tone. 

Keith tugs his arm back gently. “Okay, well, now you know, so. I’m just gonna…” and he gestures in the direction that he was attempting to walk away from Lance.

He nearly succeeds in his escape because Lance’s mind is reeling from all the new information. But he eventually does realize that Keith is running away, and he calls out, “Wait, asshole! You’re mine too!” 

As Keith’s brain processes the words, all his breath leaves him in a sort of wheeze and he almost trips over his own feet. “I’m your…?” he says quietly, turning back toward Lance.

“My soulmate, yeah. And I’m kind of pissed off at you.” 

“What? Why? What did I do to you?”

“You never said anything!”

“I never—! You were the one who found out first! When I—when I found out your name you told me to mind my own business!”

Lance feels guilt snake through his chest as he realizes Keith is right. “Ah… that was kind a difficult time for me, you know?” 

Keith frowns. “Yeah, I know. And I… I wouldn’t have made it worse.” He swallows. “I was going to say something to you, but then… you know, I got expelled.” 

“Oh, jeez. Now I feel like a jackass,” Lance says, absentmindedly chewing on his thumb nail. “Ah, this whole time I was mad at you for not saying anything, but it really is my fault, huh?” 

“It’s not…” Keith sighs, running a hand through his hair. “It’s not anybody’s fault. Life was really shitty for both of us. Probably wasn’t a great time for us to meet. Though maybe we could have helped each other out, if we were better at talking to people.” He offers a little half-smile. 

Lance brings a hand to his chest in mock offense. “I’m not the one who can’t talk to people. It’s just, you know. I had to stick up for myself. I might have been a little too aggressive about it in the beginning.”

“You could just have really good intuition. I am kind of an asshole.” 

That puts a grin on Lance’s face. “Okay, yeah, but not _that_ kind of asshole. You wouldn’t have misgendered me. You’re, like, a douche bag, but you’re a good person.” 

Keith isn’t sure how he’s supposed to react to that, but he flushes slightly. 

“Okay,” Lance continues, stepping closer to Keith. “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but you seemed really nervous to talk about this, and that makes me think…” He tilts his head down to get more level with Keith’s line of sight, which he now has directed at the floor. “You want to be more than friends?” 

“We’re not even friends now,” Keith mumbles, avoiding the question. Lance rolls his eyes. 

“Yeah we are. Remember when you cradled me in your arms? We were friends after that.” 

“Nope, don’t remember. Didn’t happen.” 

Lance punches him in the arm.   “I can’t believe I have a crush on you,” he gripes; his mouth quirks up into a smirk when he sees Keith’s blush deepen. “You look like you’re about to pass out.” 

“Maybe.” 

“Okaaay,” Lance says, reaching down to clasp Keith’s hand in his own. “Let’s go sit down somewhere, yeah?”

He figures Keith would be more comfortable in his own bedroom, so Lance heads there, dragging Keith and his sweaty hands behind him. (Keith will later insist that he doesn’t have sweaty hands.)

He tries to open the door to Keith’s room by placing his hand on the sensor, but it beeps “no” at him. He makes a confused noise in the back of his throat, and Keith sighs. 

“It’s locked, genius.” He places his own hand on the sensor and it gives a more pleasant sounding beep before the door slides open. Lance grumbles something unintelligible before taking the lead again and pulling Keith inside. He flops down onto Keith’s bed, because there’s not really anywhere else to sit, and Keith sits beside him (with a respectable distance between them). 

“So,” Lance starts, holding up his and Keith’s joined hands, “this.” 

Keith stays unhelpfully silent.

“Is this okay?” he tries. He knows it’s hard for Keith to talk about his feelings, but he really needs the input right now. 

“Yes,” Keith says, and squeezes Lance’s hand very slightly, making him smile. He hums in thought.

“I didn’t know you liked guys,” he comments, because it comes to mind.

“I’m gay,” Keith says simply. 

“Oh. Oh! Dude, if I knew that, I definitely would have started flirting with you way earlier.” 

Keith snorts. “No you wouldn’t have. Not even you could casually flirt with your soulmate who you thought didn’t reciprocate.”

“What do you mean ‘not even me’?” 

“You flirt a lot,” Keith says flatly, like he’s wondering why Lance would even need clarification. 

“Okay, whatever. That was like, friendship flirting.” 

“Remember when you got chained to a tree by that alien girl?” 

“THAT… was unfortunate and a mistake.”

“Hm.”

Lance tries to will away the warmth that’s rushing to his face. “Okay! Moving on!Do you want to date me?”

Ah, crap. He hadn’t meant to just blurt it out like that. Now his face is definitely burning, but when he sneaks a glance at Keith, he sees him in the same flushed state, which makes him feel better. 

Keith raises his free hand to cover his face. “Yes?” 

“Why are you saying it like you’re not sure!”

“I don’t know what answer you’re looking for!”

“What! I already told you I like you!” 

“That doesn’t mean—!” He sighs. “Whatever. Yes. I like you, and I think we should try being together. Romantically.” 

The words are not especially suave, but Lance’s heart is racing in his chest. 

“Cool,” he says dumbly. “That’s cool. Awesome. I… also feel that way.” Keith rolls his eyes affectionately at him, which Lance can see even though his face is still covered by the hand Lance isn't holding. “So we’re boyfriends now,” Lance declares, though Keith can tell he’s still looking for affirmation. He laces his fingers with Lance’s and squeezes his hand. The younger boy grins, warm and affectionate. 

The pair stays in Keith’s room for a while, chatting idly about their teammates and about the castle and about things they miss about Earth. Keith misses lizards and macaroni and cheese. Lance misses his family, the ocean, and garlic. And Ulta. And a lot of other things—they shift the conversation away from that topic because he starts to get sad. 

Eventually a soft chime sounds over the intercom, letting everyone know it’s dinnertime. The new couple meets each other’s eyes, and then Lance smiles and hops off of the bed, once again dragging Keith behind him.

* * *

 

“You know,” Lance says, lying with his head in Keith’s lap, “if we never came to space we probably wouldn’t have ever gotten together.” 

Keith hums thoughtfully. “I guess.”

“Doesn’t that kind of bother you? Like if you never found the Blue Lion, I just would have never seen you again.” 

“I don’t think that really makes sense. Like, maybe in an alternate reality, we never met. But in this reality, there was only ever one option. Everything happens exactly like it’s supposed to.” Keith’s head is propped up on his hand, and he’s just casually watching some old Altean movie that none of the humans can understand as he drops this philosophy on Lance. 

“So you think you were destined to fall in love with me?”  
  
“Who says I’m in love with you?” Keith deadpans, which is the only way Keith ever tells jokes. Lance rolls his eyes. “I mean, your name is on my wrist. That means, yeah, I was destined to fall in love with you. But I’m envious of the Keith’s in other universes who never had to talk to you.”

“You’re so mean to me,” Lance whines, twisting around so he’s sitting up beside Keith. “I’m so good to you and this is what I get?” Keith just rolls his eyes and throws his arm around Lance’s shoulders.

Lance tries to watch the movie too, but his mind wanders. “Do you think there are versions of me in alternate universes who aren’t trans?” 

Keith purses his lips. “I don’t know, Lance.”

“What if there are Keith’s out there who are straight?”

“Please stop.” 

“There’s probably a universe where you’re straight but then you see me and have a gay awakening, right? Or was that this universe?” 

“I’m breaking up with you.”

“Nuh-uh, you're stuck with me, because in this reality we're soulmates,” Lance says, nuzzling his cheek against Keith’s. “And we’re stuck on this spaceship together. Should have thought that through before you agreed to go out with me.” 


End file.
